FOX Weather’s Robert Ray explains the staggering ranges of devastation left behind by Hurricane Ian alongside Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Hurricane Ian is certain to go down as one of the most impactful storms in U.S. historical past, after battering Southwest Florida final week.
Ian made landfall Sept. 28 in the Fort Myers space as a Category 4 hurricane. The ferocious 150-mph winds pushed ashore ft of water from the Gulf of Mexico that tore by means of properties and companies alongside the coast.
The following day, Ian crossed the Florida Peninsula diagonally and dumped flooding rain on the inside and blew in storm surge alongside the reverse coast from the place it made landfall.
Ian made a 3rd and closing U.S. landfall in South Carolina two days after slamming into Florida.
The scope of the catastrophe continues to be coming into view even per week after the storm made landfall. Here are some numbers that reveal the magnitude of Hurricane Ian’s influence.
FEARING DEATH, PRAYING FOR A MIRACLE: SANIBEL ISLAND WOMAN SURVIVES IAN’S HISTORIC WRATH
A house broken by Hurricane Ian alongside Fort Myers Beach, Florida, on Oct. 3, 2022.
(Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service / Getty Images)
At least 80 deaths
The loss of life toll from Hurricane Ian continues to mount as search and rescue operations proceed. At least 80 deaths have been reported as of Wednesday afternoon.
Most of the fatalities have been reported in Florida, particularly in Lee County. That’s the place in style barrier islands like Pine Island and Sanibel Island had been wrecked by storm surge and highly effective wind as Ian got here ashore, chopping them off from the mainland and complicating rescue operations.
Five storm-related deaths had been reported in North Carolina, including to the U.S. loss of life toll.
According to the United Nations, three individuals died in Cuba as Hurricane Ian tore throughout the western tip of the island.
At least 2,300 rescues
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mentioned Tuesday that at the very least 2,300 individuals have been rescued as search-and-rescue groups proceed to go door-to-door, searching for survivors.
DeSantis mentioned about 79,000 buildings have been searched.
MANY STILL MISSING IN FORT MYERS FOLLOWING IAN AS DEBRIS PILES COMPLICATE SEARCH OPERATIONS
Members of Virginia Task Force 2 Urban Search and Rescue comb by means of the wreckage on Fort Myers Beach searching for victims of Hurricane Ian October 04, 2022 in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
(Win McNamee / Getty Images)
At least 13 million energy outages
Ian brought on catastrophic damage to Florida’s energy grid. In the quick aftermath, outages climbed to greater than 2.5 million in the state.
That quantity dropped to beneath 300,000 by late Wednesday morning, based on PowerOutage.us.
Officials at Florida Power and Light, which providers most of the space impacted by Hurricane Ian, mentioned they anticipate to have most clients exterior the hardest-hit areas restored by the finish of Friday.
Including the whole path of the storm, energy outages throughout Ian probably added as much as at the very least 13 million. Cuba skilled an island-wide blackout when Ian tore throughout the western facet of the island. The Carolinas reported hundreds of outages when Ian made its closing landfall Sept. 30.
4 landfalls
Hurricane Ian was being watched lengthy earlier than it made a run at the U.S.
It began as a tropical disturbance east of the Caribbean and was given a reputation as soon as it reached tropical-storm standing north of the so-called ABC islands close to South America.
It turned a hurricane because it turned north and took intention at the western tip of Cuba, the place it made its first landfall Sept. 27.
Ian’s depth grew because it exited Cuba and moved over the Gulf of Mexico and towards Florida.
The storm made its second general landfall and first U.S. landfall Sept. 28 on Cayo Costa island off the coast of Southwest Florida. About 90 minutes later, Ian made a second U.S. landfall and third general close to Punta Gorda, Florida.
Ian weakened because it moved throughout the Florida Peninsula and exited the state Sept. 29. However, it regained hurricane energy in the Atlantic because it turned towards the Southeastern U.S.
The closing landfall for Hurricane Ian occurred Sept. 30 close to Georgetown, South Carolina. That marked the third U.S. landfall of the storm and fourth general.
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The observe of Hurricane Ian.
(FOX Weather)
150-mph winds
While a post-storm evaluation will decide the precise wind speeds that tore aside Southwest Florida, the National Hurricane Center estimated Hurricane Ian had winds of at the very least 150 mph when it made its first U.S. landfall on Cayo Costa island.
About 90 minutes later, when Ian made landfall on mainland Florida, winds had decreased barely to 145 mph, based on the NHC.
Ian had winds of 85 mph when it made its closing landfall in South Carolina on Sept. 30.
10+ inches of rain over 3,500 sq. miles
An evaluation by the Weather Prediction Center discovered that Hurricane Ian dumped 10 or extra inches of rain throughout 3,500 sq. miles of Florida on Sept. 28, the day of landfall. That equates to slightly greater than 5% of the whole state.
Ian ranks as the third-highest protection of 10-plus inches of rain in a 24-hour interval from a tropical system since 2005, based on the WPC. Only Hurricane Harvey in 2017 outranks Ian.
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Total rainfall estimates for Hurricane Ian in Florida.
(FOX Weather)
At least 7 ft of storm surge
The NHC will conduct a post-storm evaluation of storm surge to find out the actual top of the water pushed ashore by Hurricane Ian. In the meantime, we will use gauges that had been reporting throughout the storm to get a tough concept of how excessive the water acquired.
The highest gauge studying identified proper now’s at the very least 7.21 ft of storm surge in Fort Myers. That broke the earlier file surge of 3.36 ft throughout Hurricane Gabrielle in 2001.
Records had been additionally damaged in Naples and Key West, the place the surge reached at the very least 6.18 ft and 4.27 ft, respectively.
DeSantis mentioned he obtained reviews of at the very least 12 ft of storm surge, which appears potential given the forecast referred to as for 12-18 ft of storm surge in the Fort Myers space.
IMAGES REVEAL THE PATH OF DESTRUCTION LEFT FROM HURRICANE IAN
A pair from Tampa who had evacuated to Naples forward of Hurricane Ian had first-hand expertise with the storm’s fury when water bursts by means of the door of the constructing they had been staying in.
